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Topic: Living off the land... (Read 2614 times)

If I hear one more person say that if TEOTWAWKI happens, that they are going to head for the hills, I think I'm going to poke out both their eyes! Seriously.

I read a post on this on another site and think that this would be a good thing to discuss on here. Mr. Quick's plan is to bug in...and he lives in the city....I think he and others whom have the same plan are very wise...because they KNOW their environment...I would be lost trying to survive in a city...I never have lived in one and I am NOT streetwise...I would be one of the first ones dead....seriously!

I live in the country...that is where I thrive best. I'm going to make regular posts on here for about a month, so those whom think that they can just "live off the land" can truly see what it takes and how hard it is...hopefully those whom also live in a rural situation can contribute to these posts. My goal is to get folks to see that "living off the land" is something that takes a long time to achieve...not just something that you can do overnight...

It would be nice if some of you city dwellers would also start a different post on surviving in the city. I personally could use some information...Who knows where I person might wind up.

I'll make my posts sort of like a diary. I do the first post later this evening.

it's 8:14 already...soon I will be having to go to bed...My body is telling me to go now, but I said I was going to start this off tonight.

I took Thursday, Friday and Monday off work to get some things done...we are able to build up personal hours (I think it's 2 hours a pay) and it sure comes in handy this time of year...This is the time when you literally race against the clock. We can have a hard frost any time now...and the snow will be flying in just a few weeks...

Because of these things, you must get the frost sensitive things out of the garden, I picked all the remaining peppers today. This was a good year for peppers and I ended up with a bushel. Keep in mind we have been harvesting peppers all along. This might seem like a lot of peppers, but remember, we are preserving for an entire year.

I also picked the last of the parsley and the basil. Then I checked my little patches of potatoes. My husband plants a larger patch and then I take any leftover potatoes that he has and I tuck them here and there. I sure hope his patch reveals a better harvest than mine. I did not get a very good yield this year. Unless his larger patch proves more fruitfull, I will have to purchase our years supply...imagine if you were not able to buy from the store and you were totally at the mercy of your garden for your supply....This is WHY you produce more than you will use and preserve your produce in one way or another...you never know what mother nature is going to supply you.

Then I went to the corn patch to check on my beans that I am letting dry on the vine for seed...They are still pretty green...not a good sign...I might have to pick them and use them as soup beans. On Saturday, my Mom, sister, sister in law and myself are getting together to make vegetable soup. This is where we will use all the gardens end vegetables...all summer long, when I canned, I put the left over produce that was not large of enough of a quantity to put in a jar, into a freezer bag and froze it. These will be used for the soup. We will make large batches, and then divide it amongst all of us. It's up to the individual how they will preserve it...I will can mine, my sister will freeze hers. I might have to resort picking the beans and putting them in our soup! Good thing I never plant all my heirloom seeds! I will still have enough for next years planting.

I also picked the few remaining tomatoes...and must determine which ones I need to save for seed. My husband had already picked most of the tomatoes yesterday. There is a bushel of mixed green and red tomatoes sitting in the kitchen. I sorted them out today, and put a good quantity of the green ones on a table on the porch to ripen in the sun. Other green tomatoes will be canned tomorrow.

I did take a chance an left the cayenne peppers in the garden. I want to pick them when they are red and then I will dry them, then powder them for cayenne pepper.

Thursday and Friday were spent canning 24 pints of ham, 10 quarts of bacon, 15 1/2 pints of cheese, and 24 pints of salsa. I did not get anything else accomplished on those two days.

Sat. and Sun were spent sitting with my sister in laws mother. She is 91 years old and has to have 24/7 care. Since I am still licensed as a cna, I sometimes sit with her. I was able to crochet a few dishclothes to sell during this time. (a homesteader never wastes time and is always looking for ways to help with the budget) I was able to set out of few heirloom cushaw and spaghetti squash seeds to dry on Saturday. I didn't get home until 6:30 pm on Sunday and I did nothing but watch the movie "I Legend"...I felt like I was being wastefull of my time, but I was tired...and needed a break. But on a good note, I made a dishcloth for the lady and also a placemat and in exchange, the daughters gave me a bag of chestnuts and two wine bottles for my herbal vinegars/oils....good score for me!

Today, I aside from what I have already described, was spent moving my entire pantry of canned goods out of the pantry....I am finally getting proper canning cupboards for the pantry....I am very excited about this....somewhere on this forum I once posted pics of the pantry...it's just a room with the plastic shelving...this is a BIG job and very tiring...

I was able to do up about 1/2 of the bushels of green peppers. I sliced them and blanched them...they are now in the dehydrator along with a tray of basil and a tray of parsley. I will leave them dehydrating until I get home from work tomorrow.

I did get a couple loads of laundry done....this time of year it takes a little longer. I do not have my dryer hooked up....I haven't used a dryer for 10 years (take this into consideration if a teotwawki situation should take place) My clothes are all line or rack dried....this also determines what type of clothes we buy....they take longer to dry in the fall time. But once it turns cold and we start up the wood burner....the clothes will dry really quick on the drying rack.

Which brings up this....if you wonder what my husband is doing during all this....he is hauling wood with our cart down over the hill and stacking it on our porch. This is a large chore and time is running out....we sure HATE to haul that wood down the hill in the winter time....it's so much nicer to have it stacked on the porch and just walk out and pick up a few pieces for the wood burner in the dead of the winter! Wood hauling is PRIORITY this time of year...we heat by wood....we do have an Eden heater which is quite nice and doesn't run up the electricity bill. But that is used in the bedroom at night....our bedroom is on the opposite end of the house of the wood burner. I have said this many times before, when you live in the country, there are only two seasons. Winter and getting ready for winter...hahahahah!

Oh it's now 9:00, and I must get to bed....4:30 rolls around pretty fast and my 3 days of vacation are OVER...I was hoping to make it to watch the television show Revolutions....but I have not yet been able to stay up that late....good thing my husband is a great guy and will tape it for me....and I will watch it when I get home from work. I did get a lot accomplished these last few days, but not as much as I had hoped for...oh well good night and I will see you all tomorrow!

So I didn't need the alarm clock to wake me up this morning....my cat was outside screeching....I opened the sliding glass door to our bedroom to try to save him from what ever had him and he raced by the door and went around the house. I called for my husband and we went out in the rain to save him. We don't know what was chasing him, but he made his way back to the porch. The cat, myself and my husband are now drenched, and it's only 4:00 in the morning!

We are probably going to have to let him stay in the house full time now. I would really hate to loose him, for he is my favorite. He is a great mouser/chipmunk eater....and this saves our garden....

We are already missing another cat. My husband had seen two coyotes come up through the yard about 2 weeks ago. We figure they are making the rounds in the neighborhood, looking for a spare chicken or two. Or a cat...

Speaking of chickens, I am down to 6 Australorps , 1 silky, 2 guineas and 1 turkey. I started the spring out with 9 Australorps, 2 silkys, 3 guineas and 3 turkeys. When you are raising flocks of birds, predators are your #1 enemy. It's an endless fight! I do worry about my turkey....he is so large, and very slow. He would have a time fending off a predator. I now have to go to a neighboring farm to see if they have a spare rooster that I could buy. I lost my roosters one by one this spring. I hope it's not too late, because this is butchering season. And extra roosters are the first to go. Without a rooster, we can not incubate the eggs for hatching chicks. A hen will lay eggs without a rooster....but no rooster, no babies...one rooster will do the job nicely. If you have more than one rooster, they will fight viciously. So excess roosters are usually the first ones to get their heads chopped off...hahahah!

So, if you are thinking about living off the land and raising chickens etc. You will continually fight off raccoons, fishers, porcupines, weasels, coyotes, foxes and bears....and an occasional snake eatting your eggs. Not even going to mention how smelly of a job it is when you actually go to butcher the chickens...you have to have a very strong stomach to do chickens..hahahaha!

Your comment about the roosters fighting reminded me of my first attempt at raising chickens.

I started with nine hens and three roosters. My plan was to try and breed a bunch of typical white chickens. Well of the three roosters only one was the type I wanted to reproduce.

Unfortunately I waited too long to ax the other two gents. The pecking order had been established and my preferred rooster was at the bottom.

The end result was none of the eggs were fertile. The hens continued to harass the single rooster and not allow him to breed.

When the dog pack found my chicken yard, I ended up with only three chickens and gave up. (But the dog pack also lost their leader; he succumbed to the .308 plague. That was what he got for flaunting his hunting prowess by consuming my prize hen in the middle of my pasture—fair is fair after all.)

Haverwild...your post was exactly the kind of thing I was hoping someone would post. AND the reason I started this thread. We have lived on our place for 15 years, and STILL we are continually adjusting and learning new things and techniques. I even grew up on a farm, but This type of living takes a LOT of trial and error and experience.... you never quit learning and trying to perfect things...

While I do enjoy reading the self sufficient magazines like Mother Earth News, Urban Homestead, Backwoods home and others, seldom do they paint the real picture. I believe they give folks a "fantacy life" with pretty pictures on the pages...for the most part.

I have seen way to many of the summer folks whom have a cabin in our parts, become absolutely miserable when they move here permanently. They only stay during the weekends during the summer...they "camp out" as they call it....

but actually living here through every season proved to be much more than they could ever imagine. My father and the neighbor have had to come to the rescue of a good deal of summer folks, when they underestimated the harsh winters. In the city, the snow does not accumulate as it does here. The city plows the streets, the city picks up the garbage, Plumbers can be called for broken pipes and for the most part, electricity can be restored quickly.

Here, the township does plow your dirt road, but your lane is up to you...and the township might not get to your road until long after you have gone to work...last winter, my neighbors were out plowing the road themselves...you fix your own pipes and there are sometimes days before the electric can be restored. My father and the neighbor have delivered many loads of firewood or coal, to newbies whom didn't have a clue how much firewood was needed to make it through the winter!

These posts are not MEANT in any way shape or form to criticize those living in the city....it's only meant to get folks thinking about what it really takes to "live off the land"....and to consider their plans for a TEOTWAWKI situation.

Day 2 ....I managed to get to work at 6:30 am after the cat fiasco....I like to be there by 6:00 but thank goodness I have until 9:00 to get there! hahahah....This works well in the wintertime, because you never know when the roads are going to be closed and you have to take a different route.

The electric company called and told us that the electric will be shut off tomorrow because they are going to be working on the lines....this is a good time to access what it's like living without electricity. Time to fire up the generator and make sure everything is in working order.

BUT, something was wrong with the generator...we thought it might be the fuel pump, and I purchased a new one for 50.00....and that was not the problem...no lose, I had already intended on buying one to have as a spare! My husband soon discovered that the line that goes down into the gas tank had a slit in it. You couldn't see it because it was inside the tank itself. So instead of sucking up the gas, it was sucking up air. That was easy to fix.

This genny requires a battery to start it up. It's a 5000 wat generator with both 110 and 220. The battery was DEAD...so we put our charger on it and it did not charge the battery...so we borrowed my Dad's Charger to see if the problem was with our charger....nope...the battery will not take a charge...

That meant today, I had to stop at the store after work and purchase a new battery....which I did! Keep in mind that we are at least 40 minutes from any major store. There is a Mom and Pop store about 15 minutes from our house...but prices there tend to be high and they only carry items like milk, bread, eggs, a little meat and cheese....just basic staples. No batteries or parts.

Good thing is the town I work in has EVERYTHING...parts stores, a couple of grocery stores, Walmart, Gas stations and feed stores etc. So when I shop, I just do it after work to save us time and money...but that town is also 40 minutes away! This means that we must have our things in working order, plus spare parts for any emergency situation. We might not be able to make it to town to replenish parts, gas, kerosene or food. I noticed some of my fellow co-workers purchase items on a daily basis for dinner etc. This is NOT an option for us. If you were used to a purchase on demand type of lifestyle, moving to the country would be a big adjustment for you.

That reminds me of the gal that moved from the city to here....her husband's family had always had a cabin up here and he romanced her with all the good times he had coming to the cabin on the weekends...She stayed up here a few times and loved it. She and her husband eventually purchased the family cabin and they moved up here permanently...The second day she was here, she came to my house asking where the local gym was...hahahah! I pointed to the wood pile and handed her the axe....she didn't see the humor in that....she was terrified at night because it is very dark when there are no streetlights! and no noise except a hoot owl calling...which really frightened her...by the end of the week, she was in tears and ready to move back to the city...needless to say, they ended up in divorce court....and I kid you not...her life was the city, and that's what she knew....I really felt bad for her, because once I was talked into living in a city and I was certainly out of my element...I felt suffocated...and hated every minute of it. That is how this poor girl felt. Trying to take her out of what she knew with out properly PREPARING her was that guy's biggest mistake....

This is my gennie, All I know about her is this....she used to be a generator in a consession stand. I can only imagine where she has been....I spied her in a yard outside an antique shop with a big for sale sign on her on my way home from work one day...she's not an antique...she just was part of an estate sale and the antique dealer wanted to get rid of her!

I was very very happy to see her....I hurried home and dragged my husband and Dad over to the Antique Store to look at her...they are a lot more knowledgeable on these motor things than I am....I just knew I was in love with her and had to bring her home...hahahah! This is the part where my husband just rolls his eyes....he does a lot of that...hahahah!

She is not very pretty and definitely needs a new paint job (which neither my husband nor I have had the time to do it...) but to me she looks and sound just beautiful....and I was able to get the guy to come down 75 dollars from his asking price. I do need to get a muffler for her though....just haven't taken the time to purchase one....she is perfectly adequate without one, just a little loud sounding...Haha!

She is very very heavy and Dad had to deliver her in the bucket of his backhoe. I keep her on the end of my porch and we have easy access to electricity inside or out. The heaviness is a bonus because it take two to even try to budge her. When I want to stain the porch, I put a rug underneath her and my husband and I have to slide it to move her. This is good, because even if someone does manage to get her off the porch, they would have to carry her up the hill...hahahah! impossible.

Even though we live rurally, a HUGE problem around here is folks stealing metal for scrap....you need to put EVERYThing under lock and key...or it will disappear. Just the other day some idiots were arrested for stealing copper from the switches on the railroad tracks...they are in some serious trouble....if you are planning on moving to the country, don't think you are immune from theft and burglary....not only is metal a big thing....but stealing guns is also big....you don't tell folks what kind of guns you might own....or suddenly they might disappear when you have gone to town!

my gennie ( the little black tank is an extra part I bought when I went to Brother Bob's traveling show-see post on that)

One more thing for the ladies before I sign off....if you happen to be out of electricity and still want to curl your hair....here is something that works very well....the curlers that are in the electric curler sets...they can be place in a pan and boiled for a few minutes....they won't melt...and they give you a nice moist curl that won't dry your hair out....this way you don't have to start the gennie just for beauty sake...I do it on my propane stove....and no one will even know that I was out of electricity....my motto is this...no electricity doesn't mean that you can look pretty! hahahahah! We girls gotta look good...hahahaha!

Even though we live rurally, a HUGE problem around here is folks stealing metal for scrap....you need to put EVERYThing under lock and key...or it will disappear. Just the other day some idiots were arrested for stealing copper from the switches on the railroad tracks...they are in some serious trouble....if you are planning on moving to the country, don't think you are immune from theft and burglary....not only is metal a big thing....but stealing guns is also big....you don't tell folks what kind of guns you might own....or suddenly they might disappear when you have gone to town!

My sister lives out in the countryside, and teaches at a rural school, although she doesn't live a "country" lifestyle. Yet she has been telling me for years that the country is plagued with many of the same problems that bother city folks, including crime, dope, teen pregnancies, etc.

City people have this idyllic view of the country, which, as Egg points out, is wrong on two counts: First, country life is much harder and more chancy than they understand, and, second, they'll find many of the same problems in the countryside they are fleeing the city to escape.

As for the city - well, it has its own problems and requirements, but as Egg also says, if you understand how city life works, and how it breaks down under stress, you can make rational preparations.

I'll probably post some stuff on that aspect of things myself, maybe in this same thread. Or start a new one.

That's great Bill....seriously I'm dumber than a brick when it comes to city life...I have almost gotten in to some serious trouble by being so naive....I personally would love to see how folks make it in the city...I need some street smarts!

One of the things that city folk are sure to miss when they move to the country is fast Internet service. Yesterday I had a longish reply written when my connection went out - lost the whole thing! So I'll try to recap.

I think most of us in the country spend our summers preparing for winter. We certainly do. While we have a garden, it's a pathetic thing. We've been gardening for years & still aren't very good at it. If we had to rely on the garden for most of our food, we'd either starve to death or work a lot harder at it.

After tutoring in the morning, Walt spent yesterday getting in the last of the firewood. Unless this winter proves to be more severe than normal, it looks like we've got enough. Since we don't have electric heat, getting the wood in is very important.

After housework & cooking chores were done, I shoveled manure until my back couldn't take any more. Which isn't much. I try to do it at least once a week, working on Mt. Poopmore - last winter's manure that was piled up rather than taken out. It's amazing how much manure 2 small donkeys can generate!

Earlier this week we replaced Buddy's cage floor. It would have been easier to make a new cage. We're also working on winterizing the rabbit cages. Yesterday morning the doe was real antsy. I checked the calender & she was due. So I moved out the half-grown buns that were still in her cage & put in her nest box. She made a nest right away, but hasn't pulled any fur yet. She generally waits until the last minute for that.

Later this week we'll pull up & can the remaining beets, as well as "harvest" (we found that some people get upset with the word "butcher") the buns & can them. I still have some rabbit in the freezer, so even tho freezing is easiest, I'd like to get more jars on the shelf.

It's funny how in the country the talk can turn to butchering. Once at the social hour after church we were sitting with a family that has 1 teen girl. The dad & I somehow drifted into guns & butchering methods. The girl finally couldn't take it anymore & wailed, "Daa-aad!" You know - that drawn out 2-tone teenage wail! I think the subject matter affected the taste of her doughnut.

Since the temperature has dropped quite a bit Walt is covering the single-pane windows with plastic & winterizing the chicken house. An acquaintance just 8 hours north of us had her first snow this morning, so it won't be long.

Because the miserable hens, who haven't laid many eggs all summer, quit laying altogether, I finally opened up my can of Augason Farms powdered egg. It worked just fine for pancakes, tho my son insisted it made them taste different. No bad, just different. I didn't notice any difference. There is no way they could be mistaken for fresh eggs - I don't think I'll try scrambled eggs - and I don't think they would work too well in anything that calls for a lot of eggs, like pound cake. But if a recipe only calls for 1 or 2 eggs, it's fine.

Last night we watched "No Country for Old Men." It was rather alarming how well we could relate to the older sheriff who felt that where he'd lived all his life was no longer the same place & was a lot more dangerous. One reason we moved where are are now is that it was like taking a step back in time. We do have many of the same problems as the city, but they are fewer. Tho I'm sure the world will catch up with us before long.

I consider where I live to be rather ideal in terms of the country dream. No matter how brainless it may seem to others reading this; I have never in my life locked my door. On my property I have my house, huge garage, large shed, small shed, car & truck... All unlocked. In them are all of my belongings. In the sheds alone (& the most easy to empty if you come looking) are 5 mowers, ATV, generator, power tools, air tools, etc. Basically I guess you could call me not very paranoid... Makes for improved mental health! I'm sure I would change my mind if I ever got robbed... But I do have one security feature... 3 dogs that will lick you to death!!!

My wife and I have almost got to the point that we do not have to buy meat from the store anymore. We raise goats which our kids show in the local county fair. If they are showing withers they will head to the slaughter house after the show. If they are showing does they go back into the herd normally.

I do my best to add a deer or two in the mix every fall.

We have enough chickens to provide more then enough eggs during the spring summer and fall. They spend the summer months loose in the yard eating grasshoppers which cuts down on the amount of feed they require and keeps the grasshoppers from taking over the garden.

We normally try to raise a garden large enough to provide most of the veggies we will need for the winter.

People take for granted how hard it is to maintain a healthy goat herd and grow a successful garden. It is very time consuming and hard work. Add in everything else that has to be done around our place and it is a full time job for both my wife and I. Put actual work on top of that and you have two really tired people.

I think the biggest misconception with city people (which we get some people moving in here from out of state wanting "live off the land") is that it is easy and anyone can do it. They soon get a rude awakening.

This has been going on since I was a kid. I remember some guy coming in from California when I was 8 or so, wanting to purchase a 2acre corner of land that sits down below our pastures that holds water almost year round. The ground is soured and just swampy. He tells dad that he wants to buy the land, build a house and barn on it and run cattle. Obviously he does not understand the amount of land required to produce enough grass for livestock. Long story short dad refused to sell him the land and sent him on his way.

It amazes me how many people have no idea where meat even comes from or that vegetables grow from a seed.

I'm lucky in that, while I grew up in a small midwestern (60k or so) midwestern city, we were surrounded by farm country, and my great uncle ran a farm on which I helped out during the summers on occasion.

It's backbreaking, never-ending labor, at least the way they did it back then. They had electricity, sort of, although my aunt still preferred her kero lamps. Woodstove in the kitchen, well in the back yard to the kitchen sink, and an outhouse. This in the 1950s and early 1960s.

He had a lot of corn, and raised hogs as well. They kept a farm garden, chickens for eggs, and a few head of dairy cattle. They were probably as close to being self-sufficient as anybody I ever knew. But boy, did they ever work.

Although winter was considerably quieter for them. Auntie Dot said that was when she caught up on her bible reading.

Bill, I agree with your Auntie Dot...winter is a more restfull time, still work to do, but not as much. This is the most busiest time of the year. Spent mostly on harvesting the crop and making sure we have enough wood.

Bonnie, I certainly agree on the horrible internet connections....I get kicked off all the time and what ever I'm working on gets lost! And then I have to start over again....I have spent at least an hour trying to post this....hahahah! AHGGGGGGG! (my rendition of a swear word!)

Possom...welcome...I can agree on the two really tired people! hahahah! I'm anxious to see some more posts from you about your lifestyle...I'm sure you have lots to tell...especially with a goat herd! hahahah!

Satantroll, I remember to bring your dogs some steak, if I'm ever around your place...hahahaha!

Well, the temperature has dropped and it won't be long before snow flys....we could get a dusting by Halloween....we sure are not looking forward to the cold. We have been using our Electric Eden Heater, in the evenings and the mornings to shake the cold. We try to put off burning wood in the wood burner until we absolutely have to....I see the neighbors have fired up their woodburner though...so we won't be far behind....

I've been very busy...besides working full time and doing the chores here at home, I have been sitting with one of my sister in laws mother whom is 92 years old and can't stay by herself...that's takes up time...plus I have designed a cape/blanket and have quite of few orders for them...I'll have to post a pic on the sewing site....they are quite cool, if I have to say so myself! hahahaha!

My husband and I saw a bobcat the other night....one more critter that likes to eat chickens for dinner....its no wonder that Chickens lay at least an egg a day during laying season....they get wiped out so easily!

My sister, sister in law, mother and myself put up 40 quarts of homemade vegetable soup. We use all the end of the garden vegetables, plus the leftover ones that we froze through out the summer...We add a few spices and a few handfulls of barley and there ye be....vegetable soup for a cold winters day.

If you stare at the video long enough, you just might be able to smell the soup.See Drangs post below this one (thank you Drang)I'm not to good at uploading these videos, I am hopelessly challanged when trying to do this...

Here's a few more pics, one of my sister stirring the pot and a pic of jars being prepared for canning. We worked for a long time and we all were very very tired when we finished! But it was well worth the work.

ok, so my screams of "I hate you! You suck! you horrible internet!" etc. have now brought my husband to the bedroom where I am typing. That means that I have let this stupid connection frustrate me enough....I have company coming in at midnight, so I had better sign off before I kick this computer to kingdom come! hahahaha!

I agree with your Auntie Dot...winter is a more restfull time, still work to do, but not as much. This is the most busiest time of the year. Spent mostly on harvesting the crop and making sure we have enough wood. My sister, sister in law, mother and myself put up 40 quarts of homemade vegetable soup. We use all the end of the garden vegetables, plus the leftover ones that we froze through out the summer...We add a few spices and a few handfulls of barley and there ye be....vegetable soup for a cold winters day.If you stare at the video long enough, you just might be able to smell the soup.

Egg,Do your composition in Notepad or Word or something, then copy and paste into your browser when finished.

Boo

Ah, you beat me to it!

For those who like such, Word has the advantage of checking spelling and/or grammar. OTOH, Notepad doesn't complain about HTML or the whatchamacallit pseudo-HTML (using [ and /] as tags, as opposed to HTML's < and /> tags) used to format posts on this forum.

American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere....